Fighting Talk

Colin Gray offers daring insights on the nature of strategy, war and peace, organized around forty thoughts that can arm readers against fallacies that abound in contemporary debates about war, peace and security. While one can never guarantee success in strategic undertakings, which depends on multiple factors including policy, military prowess and the quality of the dialogue between both parties, a strategic education led by these maxims increases the chances that one’s errors will be small rather than catastrophic. The maxims are divided into five groups. The first group is dedicated to the larger issues of strategic history that drive the need for strategic thinking and practice. The second part focuses on strategic behavior and serves as a bridge between the political focus of part one and the military concerns that follow.